Cardboard dividers are commonly used in containers, such as cardboard boxes and crates, to divide the interior of the containers into a plurality of sections for receiving goods, such as cans, bottles, or other articles, which require protection in storage and transit. These dividers are commonly inserted in a container by automatic machines and the container carrying the divider is then filled, usually also by an automatic casing machine.
Use of automatic casing machines, in particular, has caused some difficulty with containers which have used previous cardboard dividers. The dividers must divide the interior of the container into equal volumetric sections and there must be no distortion or racking of the divider. If the divider is distorted or racked, it is not possible for the casing machine to insert the articles into the case since the articles will not index properly with the assigned space due to the unexpected shape of the divider.
Prior dividers attempted to solve the problem of accurately spacing the divider by using a dead cell construction in which the ends of partition strips or elements extended past the location of the articles and spaced the partition strips and the articles in the container from the walls of the container. The partitions were tied together by overlapping the ends of the partitions.
This dead cell construction is wasteful of material since the containers are considerably larger than the total volume of all the articles contained therein. Dead cell construction also weakens the container and allows the walls of the container to collapse from impact or from the weight of other stacked containers.
Applicant's divider eliminates the necessity of a dead cell in the container, eliminates unnecessary consumption of packaging, and increases the stacking strength of containers using the divider.
Applicant's divider may be readily manufactured, assembled and inserted into containers using automatic machinery and is readily adapted to use in automated casing processes.
The divider eliminates the use of dead cells by joining a tying strip to the ends of the partitions, thereby placing the tying strip immediately adjacent to the wall of the container in which the divider is placed. The tying strip is fastened to the ends of the partitions and holds the partitions in a substantially parallel relationship so that they are not able to rack or distort about their intended location in a container. Portions of the partitions are joined to the tying strip, preferably by a glue seam.
The folded over portions of the partitions form portions of increased thickness at the locations where they are joined to the tying strip and increase the vertical compressive strength of the divider and the container in which the divider is placed. A container using the divider has the tying strip and the portions of increased thickness immediately adjacent to the wall of the container. The container containing the divider and goods located in the spaces of the divider, has increased strength since there are no dead cells into which the walls of the container can buckle or outside forces can penetrate. The folded portions also add increased vertical strength. Material for packaging is conserved, since the box does not need to be oversized to compensate for the unused dead cell space previously necessary to provide a stable divider.